The Ryloth Excursion
by Widdrim
Summary: Adversity is friendship's truest test. After a surprise Separatist attack, Ahsoka and Obi-wan find themselves stranded on Ryloth's plains. Now master and padawan must work together to make it back in one piece.


Ahsoka dumped her pack on the ground and rummaged around for dinner—a ration bar. Again. She, Anakin, and Torrent Company had set up camp in a shallow cave system here in the northern hemisphere of Ryloth, a short respite in their push towards the city of Nabat where a bunch of clankers had hunkered down. In her head, she knew the names and the places, but it was already starting to blur with the few other ground battles she'd been in. Is this how her masters felt? Trying to keep the endless besieged worlds separate, trying to distinguish between each endless wave of droids.

"Hungry, Snips?" Anakin asked, dropping his own pack.

She bared her sharp teeth in a smile. "Starving. I think I saw a red rat on the way in, so I might go hunt one of those down."

Anakin nodded nonchalantly—he'd eat anything, she'd seen him eat tube worms straight off a cave wall once—but a few away, a couple clones blanched and quickly went back to setting up camp. She bit off a hard chuck of ration bar and stuffed it between her teeth and cheek to soften. Mostly she was messing with them, but a little fresh meat would be a welcome break from the endless march of bland, nutrient-exact bars. Small as they were, red rat wouldn't be hard to catch. A little patience and good timing—

"General." Rex had his finger to his ear comm. "We've got Ghost Company and General Kenobi inbound. Should I have the men pack in?"

"Tight as they can, Rex. Something tells me tonight is going to be cold."

Ahsoka dug her cloak out of her pack and dropped it about where she would be sleeping. The clones distributed a few small space heaters for later and set up the makeshift medical space for Jesse and Blackout to work. A few minutes later, Ghost Company trudged into the caves and mingled with the 501st.

Ahsoka spied Obi-wan talking to Cody. Dirt and smoke streaked his face and clung to his robes, and an ugly blaster mark scarred his right shoulder armor. Even for the mighty Master Kenobi, it seemed there were close calls.

Finally, the Jedi master left Cody and came to sit near Ahsoka. He looked even more tired up close, but he smiled at her. "It's good to see you, Ahsoka."

She swallowed the bite of ration and smiled back. "Good to see you too, master. We spent the whole day clearing out recon bases and sniper nests."

"We did much the same. We'll have to make an aerial assault on Nabat, but the guns on the ground are too thick for that yet."

Anakin dropped down beside them and smirked. "You look terrible."

Obi-wan just gave his friend a long-suffering look. The three of them clustered around the heater and Rex and Cody joined to discuss the day's gains and check in with Admiral Yularen over a shaky holocall. Around them, Ghost and Torrent Company settled in for the night, swapping stories about their day, exchanging kill counts, and in one corner a makeshift barber's set up as a few expert clones buzzed their brothers' hair, either to touch up fussier styles or to give new scrapes and cuts room to heal. It looked interesting, having hair. She'd seen all the things Senator Amidala could do with hers, but it also looked like a hassle to maintain, especially on the battlefield. But the men reveled in it, in how it made them both distinct and united.

Then Force whispered, like a tug at the back of her mind. Quiet. Insistent. She raised her head, and Anakin and Obi-wan were already on their feet, looking to the cave entrance. A distant scream echoed down the valley, but it didn't fade like a sentient sound of pain or fear. It dragged on and drew closer, higher, louder.

Bombers.

"Run!"

Everyone sprinted deeper into the cave. The scream rattled the stones on the floor until it rang in Ahsoka's montrals and made her eyes water. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Obi-wan and Anakin slow and turn, and she skidded to a stop and spun around to follow them. Clones raced past, blue and gold blurs in her peripheral.

Light.

Like looking into a sun.

Then thunder and fire and death burst toward her. She threw up her hands to hold back the seething explosion that strained for her, ravenous and raging to swallow everything down. The smoke burned in her eyes and throat, and she dug her feet into the ground and pushed back.

Then another explosion shook the cave. She was hurled back into pain and blurry light until she slipped into darkness.

Someone was touching her shoulder. "Ahsoka. Ahsoka, wake up."

Her head rang. A hundred rocks dug into her back, and everything hurt. She wanted to lie still, to wait until the throbbing and jabbing gave up and left, but someone's voice turned into Obi-wan's, and he wasn't giving up. "Ahsoka, you need to wake up."

She opened her eyes but just saw more dark.

"It doesn't look like anything's broken," he said.

She put a hand to her pounding head and winced. "Are you sure?"

"Sure as I can be." His hand found hers, and he pulled her to her feet while she groaned a little louder than necessary.

"What happened?"

He ignited his saber, and the pale light spilled across his face revealing a deep gash across his forehead that his hair stuck to. "Vulture bombers. We held the explosion back until the walker fuel tanks blew. Threw us into this side passage."

She took a step towards him. "You're hurt."

He looked surprised, then touched his forehead and shrugged. "Just a scratch."

She looked around, and her eyes had already adjusted enough for her to make out the close walls of the cave, barely a few meters apart, and the ceiling was just out of reach. The Force must have been watching over them if they made it into the tunnel instead of smashing piecemeal into a cave wall. She blinked and looked back to him. "And Anakin? The men?"

He held up his wrist. "Anakin. Anakin, come in." Feedback whined through the cave. "Cody. Cody, do you read me?"

Ahsoka tried her own comm and got nothing but static. "All this rock must be blocking the signal."

"Possibly." He took a couple steps, and the light spilled onto a wall of rubble stretching up to the cave ceiling. "This doesn't look good."

"Can we move it?"

"I don't think moving it is going to be possible." He held the saber higher. "It seems to be holding up the roof at this point, and moving it may cause more rubble to fall."

Ahoksa clenched her fists. "What about Anakin and the men? They could be hurt!"

"That's possible, but there isn't anything we can do for them from here. The only thing we can do is to find another way out and find our way back to them."

Ahsoka sighed. "Then how do we get out of here?"

He pointed his lightsaber in the opposite direction, into the endless dark. "I think I feel the air moving from deeper in. This may be a tunnel system."

She frowned. She wanted to do something, not run around in the dark hoping not to run into something big and fanged. But Obi-wan was already striding into the unknown. Ahsoka sighed and ignited her lightsaber. "Then I hope we don't run into whatever dug these."

He snorted. "That would be unfortunate."

They followed the curve of the tunnel for what felt like hours, wandering further and further away from camp before Obi-wan pitched forward into the dark.

Ahsoka grabbed his arm and yanked hard. "Master!"

Somehow he got both feet back on solid ground and took a breath. "Oh, dear." He leaned forward, holding his saber aloft.

A black ravine stretched out beneath them, maybe a meter across and too deep to see the bottom. Ahsoka leaned out and looked up, and overhead the ravine ran up to a dark sky. Barely outlined by the moon, smoke from days of fighting stained the narrow gash of night sky and blotting over the stars. On the far side of the chasm, the tunnel ran on into the dark. Goosebumps rose on her bare arms and shoulders in the open, cool night air, and she wrinkled her nose in discomfort.

Maybe being out of the tunnel would give a better signal. Ahsoka tried her comm again. "Skyguy. Skyguy, do you read me? Ankain?"

Static.

She groaned. "Useless."

"It must have been damaged in the explosion." Obi-wan leaned over the edge of the canyon, peered down into the dark, and pointed lower down the cliff face. "It looks like there's a ledge big enough for both of us."

Ahsoka turned her lightsaber off and hung it back on her belt. On her bare arms and shoulders, goosebumps rose. "Big enough for what?"

"To pass the night. We can regroup with the others in the morning."

Her mouth fell open. "What? We can't stay here."

"Ryloth is dangerous enough during the day. There will be all kinds of predators and droid patrols out now, so I think it's wisest to wait for light."

Ahsoka scowled. "But they might need our help."

"Ahoksa, I understand your frustration, but we came almost straight through the plateau. It will take us hours to get back on foot. We won't be any good to Anakin or Cody if we're caught by Separatists or falling into a gutkurr nest."

She crossed her arms then hugged herself tighter against the cold.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Have faith in Anakin. He'll be there when we get back."

She sighed. "Yes, master."

They leapt down to the ledge and tried to settle in for a few hours of sleep. Ahsoka curled into a ball and wrapped her arms around herself. Kark, it was cold. How did a planet get so hot during the day and lose all the heat once the sun went down? What she would give for a cloak right now. It was probably ash.  
Obi-wan put his back to the wall and raised an arm in invitation, and Ahsoka scooted close to share his body heat. Even with his cold, dura-plastic armor, the Jedi master was warm, and she curled up with his arm around her and her face buried in his side. Thank the Force for mammalian species.

Ahsoka woke stiff and cold the next morning. Pale, pink-brown light filtered down the ravine, bright and dancing with dust particles. She licked her chapped lips and tasted blood in the cracks. Obi-wan must have felt her stirring because he inhaled and sat up, then rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Lived to see another morning."

Ahsoka snorted and breathed into her hands and rubbed her arms to limber them back up. "Don't feel very alive."

He stood with a suppressed groan and stretched. "It'll be hot enough soon. We should get moving."

Sliding further down the ravine, they found a path worn into the cliff face, narrow and broken, probably created by some wild animal and eroded by time. They picked their way along the cliff face, and sometimes they had to leap several meters to reach the next portion of the path. After a few hours, they worked their way out of the canyon into the open air again. The sun was high, and it was getting hot again. She turned in the direction of the camp, and over the edge of the mesa rose a black, swirling cloud.

Ahsoka gasped and dash towards it.

"Ahsoka," Obi-wan shouted. "Wait!"

She sprinted to the smoking cave mouth. Scattered across the ground were hulking, twisted pieces of metal, melted and hardened into threatening angles. Smoke drifted off the rocks, the gutted AT-TE, the skeleton of the crashed Vulture. It must have made a suicide run to get at their camp.

Obi-wan ran up behind her and look around, saber in hand but not ignited. In the corner of her eye something glinted, and she turned to it. An unharmed comm lay on the ground, surrounded by boot prints scattered in the ash and dirt. She grabbed it and turned it on. A map of the area flickered up with a blinking beacon a few klicks beyond their current position. "Looks like a rendezvous point. Ugh. This is going to take forever."

"Don't give in to impatience, Ahsoka." Obi-wan rubbed his chin. "They must have had to move out. We should do the same. There's no telling if the Separatists will come looking for survivors."

Ahsoka glanced back at the smoky cave then pocketed the comm and turned with Obi-wan to the rendezvous point. For the next few hours, they marched on.

The sun rose higher, and soon sweat was rolling down Ahsoka's back, and Obi-wan's robes darkened down the back. They wove between the towering buttes and strange rock formations until they suddenly cleared, and the duo stepped into clearing. Ahsoka stopped and looked around.

The ground was pocked with holes and stray shrapnel encrusted with dirt, probably the evidence of artillery fire. Ahoksa frowned and looked around at the faded battle zone. "Is this all from the Separatists? We've only been here for a few days."

Obi-wan shook his head. "No, I'm afraid the fight on Ryloth has been raging for much longer than the Republic has been here."

They trudged on through the battlefield, avoiding rusting droids and skirting stone cairns marked with white chalk symbols Ahsoka didn't recognize. There were a lot of cairns, more than there should have been. "There were files on the Ryloth Resistance in the briefing. I guess I didn't realize they had been fighting so long."

Obi-wan surveyed the half-buried wreckage of an armored vehicle. "I think we are all going to be fighting much longer than we realize." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, and he nudged some twisted shrapnel with his boot. "Be careful, Ahsoka. There might still be live ammunition."

Ahsoka glanced around, then took a deep breath. The faster they got through this field, the faster they'd reach the rendezvous point. She stepped over another pothole forward and smiled back at him to try and cheer him up. "Don't worry, master. I'm always careful."

Then she was falling, plummeting down. She landed hard and rolled across the ground and into something hard that slammed her to a stop. Groaning, she sat up and found herself at the bottom of a pit, every bruise from the explosion screamed with new pain.

Something landed heavy beside her, and a hand touched her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

She winced and blinked until the older Jedi's face came back into focus. "I think so."

A low growl reverberated through the cave. Heat in her throat, Ahsoka leapt to her feet. Her right ankle buckled, and she fell to one knee. "Oh kark, that hurts."

Another growl echoed through the cave—closer—and the Force tremored. Obi-wan looped her arm over his shoulder. "One, two—"

On three, they sprang out of the pit, and Ahsoka's leg buckled again, throwing her forward. She stumbled a few steps before she caught herself.

"Are you all right?" the master asked.

She hissed, balanced on one foot, and carefully spun her throbbing ankle, but the movement sent pain shooting up her ankle. She hissed again and shook her head. "I'll be fine."

Obi-wan watched her silently as she limped a couple steps in the direction of the rendezvous point. Then he shook his head and offered his hand.

Her lips twitched with embarrassment. She looked around and pointed to a nearby rock pile, large enough to hide her from any passing Seppie air patrols. "I'll hide out there."

"Anakin will never let me hear the end of it if I leave you here."

Ahsoka thought about arguing, but ten minutes later Obi-wan was piggy-backing her the last few klicks to the point. She wrapped her arms around his neck and set her chin on his shoulder, legs sticking almost straight out. Why was she so short?

"You don't have to carry me the whole way."

"Don't worry." He sounded awfully chipper for hauling someone half his size across the Ryloth badlands. "We're almost there."

He climbed up a short incline, and his breathing was getting a little harder, but the redheaded human showed no signs of slowing. Ahsoka smirked. "You're pretty spry for a grandmaster."

"Hmm. It seems Anakin is rubbing off on you in more ways than one."

"I think he prefers to think of it as his amazing teaching skills."

"I'm sure he does. You two are well suited."

Reckless. That was what Anakin had called her. What a lot of people had called her, and here she was being carted across the Ryloth plains, useless because she had rushed in without looking. "Master?"

He hummed an acknowledgement.

Ahsoka ran her tongue over the points of her teeth before speaking. "Do you think I would have made it as your padawan?"

He skirted a collapsed rock formation and trudged in silence just long enough to make Ahsoka nervous. She started to speak, but he said, "I think you're doing quite well so far."

"Haha."

He turned his head, and a smile wrinkled the corners of his eyes. "You will do well, padawan, wherever the Force takes you."

She rested her forehead against his shoulder and shut her eyes. "Thanks, master."

They reached the new camp a few hours later. Anakin smirked as they came in. "Glad you made it."

Ahsoka scowled at him over Obi-wan's shoulder. "If you laugh, Skyguy, I'll punch you."

"Wasn't gonna say anything, Snips. Wasn't gonna say anything."


End file.
